Bright
by Evervescent
Summary: After encountering a wounded human child in an alleyway, Sesshomaru decides to take her in.


Written for Inuvember 2015, originally published on Tumblr. I liked it and decided to put it up here!

* * *

Leaves blew around Sesshomaru's feet as he walked down the street, keeping his eyes straight and only glancing around if someone dared look at him too long. It wasn't very common to see one of the top ranking police officers in Tokyo march down a street so early in the morning, and not for the first time that day, Sesshomaru mentally cursed out Inuyasha for taking his car before he could get to it.

After being gently informed by his half-brother's wife, Kagome, that he would have to walk to work, he had agreed with a grunt, more than unhappy to have to walk over a mile to his office amongst the teeming crowds of humans. The stench of taxi's put them absolutely out of the question, and Kagome, already late to work herself, apologized for not being able to help him out before running into the car waiting outside for her.

His hand twitched as he received yet another odd, barely masked look of curiosity from a passerby, and had to restrain himself from growling at them. His long length of hair would not fit under his hat, and thus, the long ponytail of dark hair swung behind him, catching the eye of every early morning pedestrian.

Sesshomaru considered ducking into an alleyway to tear off his concealment and transport himself to his destination with the power of his own youki, but the risk of being noticed was too great.

The idea of walking down a side street was appealing, as they were far more deserted, and after a quick check of his mental map, Sesshomaru made a right down the next alleyway, and stopped immediately.

There, almost directly lying by his feet, was a young human girl. Barely out of childhood, unconscious and slightly propped up on the side of the building, the rest of her body sprawled at his feet.

The scent of her blood was strong, and was visible all over her body as well. Her leg was soaked in partially dried blood, and the side of her clothing had been ripped, exposing more torn skin and dried blood.

She was human, too, he noticed. Her clothes were dirty and she herself looked entirely too thin.

Homeless, he concluded, and she had been attacked recently. A quick check of her scent confirmed that it was no animal attack, but three male humans a few hours ago, as the scents lingered and were not strong.

He could just imagine the lecture Kagome would have given him if he called an ambulance and just gave them the location before leaving her. With a sigh, Sesshomaru bent down and unbuttoned his uniform's jacket, lifting the child up so her could wrap it around her and tuck it around her wounds. He stood holding her, making sure his hands were not touching her wounds, and calmly proceeded on his way to work, his steps so smooth that the little girl never moved.

* * *

"Whoa, Takahashi, that's a new one," the officer at the front desk, Kouga joked. He stared at the little girl, sound asleep in Sesshomaru's arm, before noticing that she was quite literally drenched in blood. "Wouldn't it have been better to take her to a hospital? She's ruining your jacket." Sesshomaru's growl made him laugh nervously, and he put his hands up in the air. "Calm down there, boss, I was just joking. Want me to take her for you?" He stood from the desk and took a step closer holding his arms out, but Sesshomaru ignored him, sidestepping him and walking up the stairs.

"I am not to be interrupted." With that, he shut the door loudly behind him. The sound did not rouse the still sleeping girl. Sesshomaru set her down into the chair opposite his and removed the jacket from around her. Having dealt with assault cases before, he was momentarily relieved that he would know how to treat her wounds. He made a mental note to call Kagome later, as the young nurse would probably do a better job of fixing her than he could, as much as he hated to admit it.

The office bathroom contained a first aid kit the officers would use to clean victims and witnesses if they arrived with injuries, and it was thankfully fully packed.

Uncapping the bottle of hydrogen peroxide, he held his breath, as the concealing spell did nothing to dull his senses. He moved her skirt out of the way and inspected the deep wound on her shin, jagged and soaked in blood.

The stinging from the antiseptic was what finally roused the little girl. Noticing the increased pace of her breathing and heart rate, Sesshomaru paused momentarily before continuing with his task, his face as blank as ever.

At first, she only moved her head, blinking to remove the blurriness from her eyes, but as soon as she realized she was in an unfamiliar place with a stranger at her feet, she jerked violently, retracting her legs onto the chair with a whimper and staring at Sesshomaru with wide, watery eyes.

He fixed her with a look. "Give me your leg," he said, not unkindly. "It will become infected if you do not let me clean it."

She continued to stare at him, obvious fear and confusion prevalent in her scent. He continued to look at her unblinkingly, his hand still held out to her for her leg.

Her lip quivered, but she still did not move, seemingly frozen. Sesshomaru reached out and gently took her little ankle in his hand, tugging on it slightly until it extended, and resumed his work on her gash.

She watched him, almost fascinated, as he quietly cleaned her shin. She trembled slightly in his grasp, but did not move.

"What is your name?"

The little girl blinked at him, eyes wide with surprise. She raised a hand slightly and opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Releasing her leg, Sesshomaru turned to his desk and pulled off a piece of paper and a pen. "Write it, then, if you do not choose to talk. Your name and whatever you can recall of this incident." He finished cleaning the wound and began to unwrap a long bandage to bind it.

He nearly blinked when the paper was shoved under his eyes. The name "Rin" was written in large letters across the middle.

"Rin," he stated, looking her in the eye, "I need to know what happened to you so I can file a report for you."

She stared at him.

"To catch the men who did this."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Will you speak?"

She shook her head.

"Fine." He closed the bandage on her leg and stood. Rin's head followed his movement, tilting her head back to stare up at him. "Are you injured elsewhere?" Another shake of the head.

"Is there a place I can return you to?"

Much to his unexpressed surprise, her facial expression did not change as she, again, responded in the negative.

"Then I will find you one."

* * *

"This was not what I had in mind."

There they stood, his sister in law behind the little girl he had found on the street.

"I said to fix her, then find her someplace to stay," Sesshomaru said, glaring at Kagome.

"What better place than here? And look at her, she's such a sweetheart. She won't even be a bother."

He clicked his tongue but his gaze flickered down to Rin for the briefest of seconds. "Do as you please."

He turned to leave, but a tugging at his pants so made him stop. Rin stood there, one tiny hand fisted in his pant leg. She looked up at him with her large, warm eyes.

"What?" Rin did not reply, but she remained rooted to her spot.

"I think she likes you," Kagome stage whispered from across the room. She giggled at the look on his face and ran upstairs before he could say anything.

Sesshomaru began to take a step forward, and Rin shuffled along with him.

"Let go." Without hesitation, Rin obeyed, but stood by him still. Sighing internally, he lifted her under one arm and balanced her on his hip. She clung to his shoulder as he went up the stairs and into his room, sitting her on the bed. "Stay there."

Rin swung her feet back and forth on the bed and looked on as Sesshomaru sat down at a large wooden desk opposite her, his pen dancing across the many papers on the surface. She watched him intently before slowly growing bored. Her gaze darted over to the shelf by his desk, wondering if he would yell at her if she moved.

Taking her chances, she stood and toddled over to it, mindful of her injured leg. Sesshomaru looked at her out of the corner of his eye, but did nothing else. She grabbed a book at random, grunting from its weight, and stared blankly at the complicated title on the front.

"Ask Kagome for a book. Mine will not interest you." She nodded slowly, then scurried out of the room.

She hazarded a guess as to which room was Kagome's, opening it slowly and peering inside.

Instead of finding Kagome, a man stood there, with long white hair and two appendages that looked suspiciously like dog ears coming out of his head. He blinked at her before breaking into a wide smile.

"You the little brat Sesshomaru picked up? Thought I smelled someone different around here." He smirked at her surprised expression. "I'm Kagome's fiancé, Inuyasha. You need something?"

Her mouth opened a little, but she shook herself out of her daze and cautiously stepped into the room. Her eyes found a nightstand by the large bed and she looked eagerly at the books piled there.

He grinned at her and jerked his head towards the books. "Go ahead, girl, they're all yours. 'Gome won't mind at all."

Rin looked the books over curiously, and grabbed the one on the bottom, a worn out picture book that made her eyes sparkle.

Before she left the room, she turned the stare at Inuyasha curiously, her eyes drifting from his face to the top of his head. As if on cue, they twitched, and he groaned mentally, hoping she hadn't noticed them.

"You can't touch them, kid, but they're real." Sesshomaru was going to kill him. "Just ask Sesshomaru about it, okay? Or Kagome. I'm not that great at this part."

He moved forward and gently pushed her out the door with a hand on her shoulder. "You're okay, kid?" Rin gave him a smile and a nod before scampering back into Sesshomaru's room.

She stood on her tiptoes and tugged earnestly at his clothing. Sesshomaru, still sitting at his desk, moved his eyes to look at her, but continued writing with his eyes trained on her.

"What is it?" She kept tugging on his shirt until he slid over a piece of paper and a pencil for her. Eagerly, she grasped the pencil and began to scribble, though instead of words, she began to draw a picture.

With half masked interest, Sesshomaru watched as she drew a suspiciously similar image of his half brother without his concealing spell, ears and all. She tapped the ears with the eraser of the pencil and gave him a questioning look.

Seeing no way around it, he explained. "Inuyasha is hanyou. That is why he has ears like that." He tugged on his bracelet, his own concealment, and his own hair and eye coloring changed to match that of Inuyasha's. "I am youkai. Kagome is still human. Does that answer your question?"

She dipped her chin, and reached up to touch the stripes on his cheek, her tiny blunt fingernails barely scratching his cheek as she did so.

"Do I frighten you?" She shook her head no, then moved on to gingerly pet the fur that had appeared on his shoulder. "Good." He donned his concealment again and looked back at his desk. "Go sit and read your book."

Without hesitating, she did, sitting on the bed and swinging her feet happily as she stared at the pictures and half-paid attention to the book.

* * *

After dinner, Rin had almost fallen asleep at the table. Had Inuyasha not caught her in time, her head would have fallen right onto her empty plate. Eyelids half closed, she blinked sleepily down at her lap while Kagome steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Where will she sleep, Sesshomaru? And don't you dare say the couch," Kagome warned.

"With you," he said simply.

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. "We don't have any space on our bed."

"Then one of you sleep on the couch."

"Just give her your bed, it's not like you even sleep," Inuyasha retorted. Sesshomaru turned his icy glare on him, and Inuyasha snapped his mouth shut.

"Sesshomaru-sama…"

Kagome looked down with surprise at the young girl, who had just muttered her first words they had heard under her breath. "I think she wants to sleep in your room, Sesshomaru." Without waiting for him to answer, she stood, Rin in her arms. "I'll change her and put her to sleep."

Inuyasha stood with her and gathered the dishes to take to the sink and wash. Sesshomaru hesitated before getting up himself and stalking slowly up into his room.

There, he saw Kagome, gently tucking the sheets around a sleeping Rin. She smiled at him as she left the room, and he looked at the little girl's sleeping face before turning the room's lights off and his desk lamp on.

It was about two hours into the night when he heard the young girl whimper in her sleep. He ignored it until she did it again, this time crying out and moving around in the bed.

Sesshomaru stood and hovered over her, looking down at her face, which was twisted in agony. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. Slowly, he placed a hand on her head, brushing her bangs off of her sweaty forehead, and tapped her cheek. "Rin."

Her eyes snapped open almost immediately, and her breath caught in her throat. She swung up into a sitting position, but a hand on her shoulder guided her back down to the mattress. Her large eyes stared straight up into Sesshomaru's face, unblinking.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" she rasped. "I…" She broke off into a coughing fit, and only then did he aid her in sitting up.

"I will get you water." He stood and left the room. Rin curled up and tugged the blankets closer to her face, coughing into them, and messily wiping the tears from her eyes. The room was dark, save from the dim light of the desk lantern, and she scooted closer to the wall and away from the edge of the bed.

"Here." He reentered the room as suddenly as he had left, handing her a small glass filled with cool water. Her hands shook as she lifted it to her face, and he placed his hand around hers to aid her.

When she finished, he took the glass from her and places it on the table. Still shaken from her nightmare, Rin sat there, with her knees pressed to her chin, silent sniffles racking her body.

Sesshomaru sat there, unwillingly to admit he was unsure of what to do. He looked down at the top of her head for a while before coaxing her onto her back. He rested his hand across her forehead, and pulled the covers up to her chin.

"I will be here, nothing will happen to you. Now sleep." With a tiny smile, Rin finally shut her eyes, and after a while, her breathing began to slow down.

He only got up once to turn the lamp off and return to her side.

* * *

Kagome had a way of getting what she wanted. After pleading with him and doing odd things with her eyes, Sesshomaru found himself being dragged along with his sister in law and half brother to the local ice skating rink.

Rin, of course, had come along with him. She had spent the entire day smiling, which was not unusual, but there was another layer of brightness to her radiant smile.

Sesshomaru had adamantly refused to drive all four of them there, but after an offhand comment from Rin about how much she would have loved if they did, he found himself begrudgingly being the designated driver.

Much to his discontent, Inuyasha sat beside him in the passenger seat while Kagome and Rin played some sort of game or other in the back. Inuyasha pretended to be busy on his phone, but occasionally snuck glances into the mirror and smiled softly at Kagome.

Sesshomaru scoffed, but found he was doing the same with Rin.

The rink was not crowded, seeing as how it was a weekday and still morning. Kagome ran eagerly to an empty bench, dragging Inuyasha along with her. She pulled out her skates from home while Inuyasha went inside to rent some for himself.

Sesshomaru refused to wear shoes that had been used and reused by humans countless times before him, thus resulting in the purchase of two new pairs of skates; one for Rin, and one for himself.

He had just finished putting on his pair when he saw Rin beside him still struggling with her own. Without a word, he knelt in front of her and placed her foot on his knee, lacing up her shoes for her while she beamed at him.

He ignored Kagome's excited whispers to Inuyasha about how sweet he was apparently being. She was entirely too fixated on the idea that he had a human heart. The very idea seemed ridiculous. She continued to prattle on to a disinterested Inuyasha, and his palms itched to strangle her.

"Come, Rin," he said, standing and walking to the ice, knowing she would follow. She did, and eagerly ran onto the ice. She almost slipped before Sesshomaru caught her by the back of her coat and set her on her feet.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin exclaimed.

"Hold on to the railing." Rin latched onto the railing and stepped forward awkwardly, toddling around the large rink while Sesshomaru absentmindedly skated beside her.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin looked up at him. "Don't you need to use the railing, too?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I do not require it."

"Then why do I need to use it?" Still staring up at him, she stumbled. Sesshomaru righted her by grabbing her shoulder

"That is why," he stated.

Rin pouted, but after another slow lap around the rink, she carefully shifted her grip from the railing to Sesshomaru's arm. His hand was in his pocket, so she wrapped her hands around his wrist. He only glanced at her, but said nothing.

The month before, both he and Kouga had tracked down and savagely punished the three men who had attacked Rin. Kagome's adoration towards the girl and Sesshomaru's own begrudging attachment to her resulted in Rin's new home being their house, permanently. With all three of them working, Sesshomaru brought her with him to work daily until he found a school to enroll her in.

Rin squealed with glee upon finding that Sesshomaru could easily support her weight, and swung her legs in the air while clutching onto his arm tightly as they flew around the ice. Unwilling to hear her stop laughing, he tolerated her on his arm and sped up his pace, easily passing by Inuyasha and Kagome, who were more concerned with holding each other than moving through the ice.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he heard her clearly. He did not stop moving, but looked down at the small child clinging to his forearm. "Will you stay with me?"

"Don't be silly," he said, looking back ahead. He pulled her tighter unconsciously. "Of course I will."


End file.
